Update Paid off! - Six years and counting!!

Kat78MFW

With this month's payment our mortgage balance stands at just below £55 000. I am starting a diary on here to try to pay it off as quickly as possible. My spreadsheet suggests that, if we continue to pay at the current rate of £800 per month, our final payment will be in March 2025. However, DD1 is likely to start uni in September 2024 so my plan is to increase the payments so that it is cleared before she goes. Then we can divert the money that had been going towards the mortgage to cover her living expenses (due to our joint income, she will only get the minimum maintenance loan). If DD2 also goes to uni, she will be starting in September 2027 so hopefully they won't both be there at the same time.

First step towards this goal will be to increase the mortgage payments by £100 per month this summer once DH has finally made the last payment on his student loan. If we can achieve that, then we could be mortgage-free in August 2024!

Kat78MFW

First MFW task done today. I have finally lost patience with The Co-Op Bank since their new app update. I check the balances on all my accounts every morning but the Co-op app is now painfully slow and keeps crashing. I frequently move money around all my accounts to maximise interest but I can't do this on the co-op app anymore. So this has forced me to look elsewhere for a different cashback credit card (all our normal spending goes on the co-op card and then is paid off IN FULL every month). I have discovered that we only get 0.3% cashback on the Co-op card but I could get 0.5% on Tandem plus a referral bonus of £10 Amazon voucher (through the referrers forum on here). So application made and £3000 credit limit confirmed. We put a scary amount of money through the credit card and I think we get about £150 cashback each year. So hopefully that could pull in an extra £100 per year.

Will try to complete an SOA at some point and I need to start tracking our spending again as money seems to be leaking at a very fast rate at the moment. I am a little nervous about having another credit card as I don't want to end up being unable to afford to pay off in full. I am interested in the free budgeting app Wally - has anybody used this?

We used to have a fairly healthy emergency fund but that was spent last February buying a new (to me) car and we have also been paying back approx. £150 per month for it to my parents who helped us with the extra cash needed. This is due to be paid off in a few months. So a new emergency fund is also needed.

Lots to do - will check back in soon.

Kat78MFW

Just testing my new signature!

LeighofMar

Welcome. We have very similar timelines and balances. I hope to be at 49,000 by the end of this month and am determined to pay it off in 4 to 5 years. I'll be cheering you on. Our son has already left home, so thankfully I don't have to worry about college as well as mortgage OPs, but hubby will be close to retirement, so I want this paid off as part of his retirement plan and a gift to myself to be mortgage free at 45. We can do this!

Kat78MFW

Thanks LeighofMar for the welcome. It must feel great to go sub 50 000. I like the sound of mortgage free by 45 - I hadn't thought of it like that. I will have a look to see if you have a diary too.
DH is 6 years older than me and we would love for him to be able to retire before 60. Are you making extra pension contributions alongside mortgage overpayment? We are not as first I just want the security of knowing that the house is all ours.
We both have public sector DB pensions so hopefully we'll have enough for him to retire early and maybe take a little part time job to top up until his state pension kicks in.
I work two and a half days a week at present but will increase to three in 1.5yrs when DD2 goes to secondary. This should help my pension situation which has taken a hit from PT work for the last 13yrs.
I guess if I went full time now we could clear the mortgage in a couple of years and then could start saving hard for retirement. But I know that this would be bad for my mental and physical health and our family life. I feel very lucky that I have been able to spend so much time with the girls as they have been growing up.

Kat78MFW

I looked into downloading the Wally app last night but the recent reviews were really poor so I gave it a miss. So I have reinstalled an app I bought for £0.79 a couple of years ago called My Budget Book. I stopped using it after a few months as it all got a bit complicated when I was moving money between my accounts and I got frustrated as I couldn't get the balances on the app to match our account balances. I have started to go through the credit card statements and am entering each purchase onto the app. Will be good to see where all the money is going. Taking DD1 to cricket training soon so will keep going with this task while watching her train.

greent

Hello and welcome! :hello:

I can highly recommend universities in Wales for cheaper living costs! :rotfl: - my eldest 2 are both at uni in Wales (different cities) and the rent costs are almost 50% cheaper than other big city unis we looked at :eek:

A plan is always good - are as (slightly stretching) targets - seems like you're getting both sorted We also paid off our mortgage before concentrating on other finance aspects (pensions & investments) - for us the peace of mind of owning the house was the major point, esp as my husband had 2 long-ish periods without work (thankfully we had savings - but they did end up decimated) We're now funding the 2 at uni (and 2 smaller ones at home) and targeting our BTL mtge (similar balance to your mortgage) whilst also increasing savings and pension contributions - and saving for a big family holiday next year

You'll find that lots of people try and balance OPs/ savings/ pensions - but only you know what is best for you (even if not always financially the 'best;) from a whole-life pov.

Finding out where all your money goes is the best starting point - and whatever method you use will help - from there it's all about making every penny work for you
x

shangaijimmy

Welcome aboard.

For what its worth our technique was to target mortgage for the first 3-4yrs and then to start increasing retirement/pension plans alongside mortgage. Its given us a huge peace of mind reducing our mortgage obligations by approx 40% to give us breathing space to start the retirement planning. So a fluid approach in SJ towers! Getting started is the most exciting and hardest part but momentum soon starts to build.

Good luck.

Kat78MFW

Thanks for the welcome Greent and SJ. Two at uni at once sounds costly, even with cheaper Welsh living costs. Thanks for the tip - will definitely keep that in mind when the time comes. DD1 is very money savvy, even at 12, and has already ruled out even considering any of the London universities due to the higher costs.

I have just finished entering our credit card spends in January onto my budget app. Will post the breakdown on here later.

Kat78MFW

Hey shangaijimmy - just spotted on your signature that your mortgage free date is currently the same as ours at March 2025!

I have got a beautiful screenshot pie chart that breaks down all my January spends but I can't work out how to insert it into my post. Is it possible?

Total credit card spend was £2403.90 :shocked:
The biggest expenses were Car £631 (road tax x2, breakdown cover, MOT x1, fuel),
Home £938 (New dishwasher £504 and food)
Children £600 :eek:(school dinners, cricket coaching and kit, school trips, music lessons and ensembles, gymnastics lessons, clothes, gifts and shoe repairs)

Next job is to add the regular bills expenditure and our income for January and then make a start on February. Won't be doing it tonight though as I am going to be settling down to the football. We have split loyalties in our house as my team is playing the team that DH and DD1 support.

Kat78MFW

Had a very exciting letter from Erudio (student loans). DH has finally paid off his student loan. I thought he still had payments to make until the summer but it's all done and dusted!